PM said to ask Haredim to again shelve draft exemption bill — this time until after election |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently requested that ultra-Orthodox lawmakers agree to put off coalition legislation exempting yeshiva students from military service until after the 2026 elections, the Behadrei Haredim outlet reported on Wednesday.
According to the Haredi news site, Netanyahu told senior ultra-Orthodox lawmakers in a private meeting that his coalition does not have a majority to push the controversial bill through. He also argued that the timing wasn’t right for bringing the bill back onto the agenda, given the multi-front security tensions.
Netanyahu argued that after the fall elections — assuming Likud wins again — coalition members will be focused on securing government portfolios, and will be less inclined to vote against legislation granting blanket exemptions from military service to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, as controversial as it might be.
The report did not specify which Haredi lawmakers were in this meeting with Netanyahu, but at least one senior ultra-Orthodox MK denied the report.
If confirmed, it would certainly be an unwelcome development for Haredi lawmakers, who received assurances from Netanyahu that the legislation would be passed toward the beginning of the government’s tenure in December 2022 and have been forced to withstand repeated delays.
The coalition’s draft exemption bill — which would ostensibly increase military conscription in the Haredi community, but ultimately enshrines continued exemptions for full-time yeshiva students — is widely seen as legally iffy and loophole-laden and has generated intense resistance even among members of Netanyahu’s coalition.
Ultra-Orthodox parties have long demanded a law to formalize exemptions from military service for members of their community, an effort which was kicked into overdrive after the High Court in June 2024 ruled that there was no legal basis for the Haredi yeshiva students’ decades-long blanket exemption from the draft.
Some 80,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged between 18 and 24 are currently believed to be eligible for military service, but........